


Just The Way You Are

by kurthummeldeservesbetter



Series: Missing Scenes [1]
Category: Glee
Genre: Episode: s02e08 Furt, Finn is finally trying, Hurt/Comfort, Introspection, Mentions of death threats, Missing Scene, frienship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:22:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29594817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurthummeldeservesbetter/pseuds/kurthummeldeservesbetter
Summary: Finn knows he has to do something to show Kurt how sorry he was for not being there before. How Kurt was much more of a man than he was, that Kurt was stronger, braver than he was. He knew it would take more than a performance, but Finn knew it would be a good first step. He just needed to think it out first.Missing Scene from Furt.
Series: Missing Scenes [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2174253
Comments: 8
Kudos: 15





	Just The Way You Are

_He threatened to kill me._

Finn couldn’t shake the guilty feeling that lay over him. He felt sick, like the time when he was ten and he’d broken his mom’s nice vase, and had blamed it on his cousin, causing him to get grounded by his aunt. Finn hadn’t been able to sleep for days as he thought of his cousin, being punished for something he didn’t do. He’d confessed a few days later, and his mom’s disappointing gaze had been something he had never forgotten.

He had seen it only one other time, but this time the underlying feeling under it had been anger, not the sadness of a mom whose son had lied to her and blamed someone else. The anger had come from him using a word she had explicitly told him to never use, especially with a pseudo-sort-of-stepbrother. She hadn’t grounded him that time, but had told him, through dark eyes, that she wouldn’t blame Kurt or Burt if they didn’t ever want Finn in their house ever again.

Sure, she had told him she still loved him, and always would. His mom had reassured him that she’s still choose her own son, but that he _needed_ to change, for his own sake, and that she’d help him. When Finn had tried to halfheartedly explain his side, she did understand he was uncomfortable, but she told him that he took the worst route possible in displaying it.

His mom had also been quick to remind him he’d been happy to get help or advice from Kurt when it pertained to Finn, and Finn felt even sicker. Her disappointment had left a mark on Finn.

Finn seemed to be disappointing a lot of people lately, he realized. He had disappointed Rachel, who had assumed better of him and been quick to tell him how she felt. Rachel always believed in him, she was one of the few he felt like actually knew him, and he had smashed it in a second because he wanted to protect a popularity that didn’t even matter. He had disappointed Burt, who had looked at him with that same anger disappointment mix his mom had the previous year. His one real father figure had looked at him in a way he had never wanted to see again, and it only reminded him he had failed.

Yet, he realized, he hadn’t disappointed Kurt. That realization, at first, had given him a bit of release, but then it came to him; Kurt wasn’t disappointed in Finn, because he no longer believed in him. Kurt had given a halfhearted defense right after the guys had gotten bruised defending Kurt, but even Finn knew it was more to keep the conversation off of him and changing the subject, not actually caring that Finn had been too cowardly to even try and confront Karofsky, a guy he didn’t even like.

He was such a coward.

Finn couldn’t even confront a guy who had even harassed him, harassed his friends, had _terrified_ Kurt, and yet Kurt, even with all the shit he’d been going through, had kept silent about the intensity of his bullying. Hell, Kurt hadn’t even been the one to request help; it had been Rachel, who he had a rivalry with. Finn was supposed to be family, and he had ignored it for his own sake. Even Mr. Schue had given him a look when the others had muttered that Finn hadn’t been there.

_He threatened to kill me._

God, the worst Finn got was slushied. The worst most of them got was slushied. Kurt was getting slushied, shoved into lockers, his things slammed out of his hands, harassed, and _death threats?_ All because…all because Kurt dared to be open about his sexuality. Kurt was brave, brave as hell in a town like Lima, one that tried to chew him up and spit him out, and he walked with his head high. Finn was so obsessed with popularity he had ignored it.

It was time for change.

He’d gotten Brittany and Mercedes to distract Kurt, telling them he was planning a surprise for Kurt for the wedding and needed the choir room. It was an emergency, after school, and had taken a lot of begging to everyone, but since most of everyone’s parents had also been invited to the wedding, a late day at school had been the norm for the week.

Brittany hadn’t needed much convincing, skipping down the hallway to go find Kurt, but Mercedes had fixed him with a suspicious look.

“I’m going to make things right,” he had told her. “I just need this one favor.”

“Fine,” she had said. “But this doesn’t make us friends, not yet. You’re lucky you seem to have a lot of lives.” She then had followed Brittany down the hallway, leaving Finn behind to wonder what she meant.

\--

“So you only step up after Sam _shows_ you up?” Santana asked, lounging in her chair as she filed her nail. Quinn was braiding Tina’s hair next to her, and the pair smirked as Finn went a little red. He hated how shamed he felt, and hated that Santana, of all people, was a little right. It wasn’t because of Sam, well, not really, but it did seem that way. He couldn’t blame the club for thinking it, either.

“I’m trying to do right for Kurt,” he explained, uncapping the marker. “I need to make things right.”

“He says, only after Karofsky gets expelled,” Artie rolled his eyes. “Now that the biggest threat is gone, you decide it’s time to show up.”

“Why should we help you look good?” Santana added again. “Kurt knows he has the backs of the rest of us now. Why should we add a guy who couldn’t have been bothered literally a day ago?” Finn gritted his teeth as he watched a few of them nod along. It seems as though the last week he had really failed a whole lot of people. He knew that most of the girls didn’t care for him, but seeing Mike, Sam and Artie nod along really made him feel sick. Even Puck, who had been quick to say he would have happily joined in to defend Kurt and had even offered to Kurt to make someone next to him switch lockers, looked disappointed.

Finn still didn’t know how his friendship with Puck was still going, but that was another issue to tackle later.

“He’s trying, you guys,” Rachel stood, joining at the front. “Look, even I was disappointed with his choices this week. But he’s trying now, and we need him.” She grabbed his hand and gave him a small smile. “We should give second chances to each other. We need each other.” Santana shared a look with Quinn, opening her mouth and making a gagging noise, but he saw everyone else relax a bit. Tina, thankfully a little more level-headed, gently smacked Santana’s thigh, and she held up her hands apologetically, even with a little eye roll.

“So what’s your plan?” Mike asked. “Because I was thinking we could do sort of a scheduled thing. We all have classes with each other, and even though Karofsky is expelled, there’s still guys like Azimo or Cole who might try and target him for Karofsky’s expulsion.”

Sam jumped a bit, a bright look on his face. “We could be like the secret service!” Mike and Puck shared excited grins. “We could make sure one of us is always walking with him for a week or two, until the drama dies down.”

“Yeah!” Puck grinned. “We could even get suits to look like we mean business. Hell, we could get Kurt to dress up like the president and people would really not mess with us.”

Finn felt himself smile, and he liked the idea, but he was thinking something different. Rachel walked back to her seat next to Tina and gave him an encouraging motion for him to continue.

“That’s great, you guys, but I was thinking a performance.” He turned to the white board and took one of the markers and uncapped it.

“Uhh,” Quinn held up a finger, finally speaking after being quiet for so long. “How is a performance going to help Kurt?”

“It’s more of an apology,” Finn said, sheepishly. “To say how sorry I am for not stepping up earlier.”

“So we’re not helping him at school?” Tina asked. “Because a performance is nice and all and I’m sure Kurt will appreciate it, but there’s still a ton of assholes who will be pissed one of their own is gone.”

Finn held up his hands in defense. “I’m not saying we wont protect him in school, we can and will, but Kurt’s been planning this wedding all by himself, all while Karofsky was threatening his life and harassing him.”

There was a beat. Finn realized, from the horrifying look on everyone’s faces, that they hadn’t known Karofsky had threatened to kill Kurt. Rachel turned pale, her and Tina clutching hands as Quinn and Santana simultaneously drew their hands to their mouths, shocked. Even all the guys looked a mix of angered and horrified. Working fast-Kurt would be pissed Finn told them-he held up his hands.

“Look look look-“ Finn said, hurriedly writing down song ideas. “Karofsky is gone now. Coach-Principal Sylvester took care of it. We-we need to show Kurt we care. I-I need to show him I care. He needs to know we have his back, in front of everyone, in front of Burt and my mom. He’d never had someone dedicate a song to him before, and he has been overdue for a long time.” He continued hoping they’d get the hint to let it go for the moment. “We can plan how to get Karofsky back later. We can think of a hundred different ways to get him back later. Let’s just focus on Kurt.”

He turned back, trying to regain control of the situation.

“Are-are you serious?” Quinn asked, horrified. “He threatened to kill Kurt?”

“That-that asshole!” Puck looked furious. “Where does he get off?”

“Listen!” Finn held his hands up. “Kurt-Kurt didn’t tell anyone. I’m not saying it was a good choice,” he hastily added when Rachel fixed him with a look. “But obviously he felt like he couldn’t. We can prove to him he can trust us, that he can truly trust me, and we can do that by showing him, in front of everyone, that we do care.” Seeing that they were almost convinced, he added, “Then after the wedding we can egg Karofsky’s car or something. Let’s just focus on Kurt. _Please._ For his sake.”

There was silence for a few moments as his friends shared looks with each other.

“Fine,” Santana said, tossing her nail file into her backpack. “But bet that I’m going to be having words with that lumberjack the next time I see him.” The rest, even Rachel, nodded at her statement. Smiling, this time without that feeling of guilt, he nodded. They’d take care of their own. He’d take care of Kurt, like he was supposed to.

“So,” Tina asked, crossing her legs. “What were you thinking?”

Finn stared at the board, where he’d written a dozen songs he had saved. One, in particular, caught his attention more than the others. They’d already been practicing _Marry You,_ so another Bruno Mars song would still be in theme-and theme was important to Kurt. He erased the rest, silent and grinning, before circling his choice. When he turned around, he moved, letting them see his choice.

Their smiles told him he had picked right, and for the first time in weeks, Finn finally felt like the good guy he’d been so desperately trying to be.

“Just text Brittany and Mercedes our choice, and they can learn whatever moves and cues we come up with tomorrow.” Finn moved to grab his iPod and connected it to the speaker. “Mike?” he asked. “Do you have an idea of what we can do for dancing?” As Mike happily jumped up and took the front of the room, the rest of the group standing to join him, Finn felt a weight lift from his chest. He was far from his relationship with Kurt being a hundred percent repaired, but he knew that he was finally on the right track. Rachel was smiling at him, her face filled with pride, and even Santana looked happy. Finn knew, within his heart, he needed to change. He knew he needed work, that one performance wouldn't fix a year of failing, but Finn knew he was finally making the right choice. 

And well-he was finally excited to be a big brother. 

He hoped he'd be a good one.

**Author's Note:**

> For the Gleewatch Peeps


End file.
